Monday, June 4, 2012

Proton Exora Bold (MT)

It is the first 7 seater wagon from Proton, our first nation car manufacturer. It was first introduced into the market in the year of 2009. At first glance when I saw it in the show room, I assumed it's just another rebadge model from Mitsubishi, which is what Proton used to do. Proton had been rebadging car models from Mitsubishi since it was formed in 1985.   But I was wrong: this Exora model is in fact a local design one.

Exora Bold is the 1st facelift of Exora that introduced in early 2012. Some changes been done on the outlook of the car, as well as the engine. I will come to the engine later, but let's look at the outlook first.


There is a significant "facelifting" of the front bumper of the car. The bumper look "bold" and sporty with the additional side grill air vent when compare to the original front bumper.


There is not much change of the real except the additional rubber body kit at the real bumper and smoked real lights instead the clear one. Apart of that, nothing major changes for this "facelift" model.


Power wise, Exora houses a 1.6 cc CPS engine. But for Exora Bold, there is another variant that houses a turbo charged 1.6cc CPS engine which is called a CFE engine. With turbo charged, one claim that the engine would pump out the power that is similar to a 2.0cc engine. However, the one I am driving one is a Exora Bold 1.6cc manual transmission, which it's not a CFE engine.

I've tested both the 1.6cc A/T and 1.6cc CFE models. I was really disappointed by the performance of the A/T but I am impressed by the CFE one. I could feel the power of the CFE, but not the CPS A/T. Hence, to compensate the "power lost" of the CPS A/T, I choose the CPS M/T instead. To my surprise, the car respond quite well and I could feel the push, which I don't when I was test driving the A/T one.


 Gear shift for the M/T is difficult when compare to my ex-lover, Nissan Sentra N16 M/T. The Sentra M/T gear shift was smooth and easy and soft, but Exora's is hard and "tight". "It's probably because it's new, hence you feel the hardness." is the reply from Proton Service when I sounded this problem to him. What the.....


The desk-board is simple and clean. Everything is placed in the middle: the radio, centre air vent, emergency light switch, real heater switch, three air-condition knobs, interior air circulation switch and cooling switch. Very typical for a Proton mid-range car which there is no much complicated switches/electronics monitors placed in a small place.

There is radio control on the steering wheel, and two air bags provided (driver side and front passenger side).

Simple and yet all necessary control is there.


I have no complaint for the size of this car. This is a HUGE car that offer HUGE interior volume. There are 3 rows of seats which legally could carry 7 adults passengers. The last row of the seat could be folded to clear a huge boot space. As you can see in the photo above, both of my kids where sitting while we fed them in a rest area along NSHW where the 3rd car seat been folded down.


The ICE (In Car Entertainment) is rather standard for a family car. The radio-CD front unit is of Blaupunkt and comes with car there is another 9" screen DVD player unit which is mounted on the ceiling of the car. To operate this DVD player is a struggle in my opinion where instead direct connect to in car speakers, this DVD player uses FM radio transmission to transmit audio signal. In order to watch any movie or listen to songs, one would required tune into the certain FM frequency from the car's radio set that this DVD is transmitted. Hence,  there is no guarantee smooth transmission of sound if the frequency channel been tuned in isn't used by any radio station.


So, how about fuel consumption ? This car has a curb weight of 1,900kg. With a puny engine of 1.6cc, I would expect to see a huge expenses on fuel if compare to my ex-car Nissan Sentra 1.6cc M/T. I've travelled long distance with this Exora from Pg - KL which clocked at 17 sen/km, and normal daily commute from house to work with moderate traffic jams, worse at 18.5 sen/km. Not bad to my standard  I would say.

I find it hard to master the programmable wiper speed as describe in the user manual. I would prefer a simpler knob turning mechanism instead of turning off the wiper before it comes to rest position and start counting how many seconds you wish it to interval and turn it on again. So troublesome and so confusing !

It's heavy and sturdy when driving along heavy rained highway, it offers great space, it has the best air condition (one of the best from Proton) and it has great suspension system (I believe it's a Lotus tuned, but the brochure says it's a Proton tuned). However, with such a puny engine, I still feel lack of power when climbing up hills, very cheap looking plastic interior desk-board and seats, quite poor workmanship though. As conclusion, after driving it for almost 2 months, and total travel of about 2,800 km, I would say for a car which is cost at RM 67,000.00 (OTR) I am satisfy with it. So far so good !
 

14 comments:

Alex said...

Thanks for the practical review. Am thinking of getting one. Your review gives me a different perspective.
Thanks.

Phman380 said...

Hi there,

Thank you for the brief, informative and truly the owner. Seem it is so good for family.. like had been told by my friends too.I like the way that you reveal the Exora feelings. I agree with you Proton is so poor on cosmetics, interior look so cheap. They dont know how to play with textures and colors instead of put leather or other luxurious material.

I would plan to have one.. but still want to get the CFE version. But wait to that horse get stabled first (at 1st batch got problem with one-way valve, and now Proton revise it, freely change to two-way valve for 1st batch owners)

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed. . I own a cps exora manual from2010 till now, found that no other car this price so affordable and big size as exora...although the QC is poor...but all with warranty shouldn't be a problem but some time waste. ....I'm letting go my cps this month for a new CFE exora cvt.booked before CNY....plp even say I'm crazy. ...but my kids and wife love it....cos this mpv is not as branded as my BMW e90 but it brings the whole family to many holidays....
My conclusion is this is a good car for family and cheap on the price....I will change to a 3rd exora in the future if there is no other competition as this price and size.....go on and get one.....

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Eric said...

Thanks for the review, are you still using this transmission exora mt now?

Eric said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wesley said...

Hi there I also own a 2011 auto cps , besides the lack of power, all in all not a bad car for the price, my only peeve is the abs warning issue, it seems to be a common problem for this car

Benjamin said...

I bought the Exora bold in 2014. Initially everything was fine. 1year down the road, the car started jerking. Everytime complain, service center does the computer setting. 2 weeks after setting, the jer king started again. I've complained so many times that recently Proton took my car for service at Shah Alam. After I took my car back, the kerbing was still there. I also complained about a whistling sound Everytime the car cruise at 90 - 100km/HR. I was told that all Exora bold have this sound. Don't know what else to do with the car.

Benjamin said...

I bought the Exora bold in 2014. Initially everything was fine. 1year down the road, the car started jerking. Everytime complain, service center does the computer setting. 2 weeks after setting, the jer king started again. I've complained so many times that recently Proton took my car for service at Shah Alam. After I took my car back, the kerbing was still there. I also complained about a whistling sound Everytime the car cruise at 90 - 100km/HR. I was told that all Exora bold have this sound. Don't know what else to do with the car.

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